Integral processing tray and liquid container

ABSTRACT

A COMBINATION PROCESSING TRAY AND LIQUID CONTAINER FOR USE IN PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSING APPARATUS. THE COMBINATION UNIT IS FORMED WITH A WALL PORTION OF RESILIENT MATERIAL WHICH CAN BE DEFORMED TO REDUCE THE CONTAINER VOLUME THEREBY FORCING LIQUID FROM THE CONTAINER TO THE INTEGRAL TRAY. AS THE CONTAINER RETURNS TO ITS ORIGINAL FORM DURING EACH PROCESSING CYCLE, EXCESS PROCESSING LIQUID IS WITHDRAWN INTO THE CONTAINER.

3,202,074 8/1965 Carlson........................ 3,236,168 2/1966 Rautbordetal..... 3,273,485 9/1966 Limber 3,461,788 8/1969 Tigeretal................-.....

Primary Examiner-John M. Horan Assistant Examiner-Kenneth C. Hutchison Attorneys--Robert W. Hampton and John D. Husser John E. Morse Rochester, N.Y. 773,771 Nov. 6, 1968 [45] Patented June 28, 1971 Eastman Kodak Company Rochester, N.Y.

CONTAINER 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

United States Patent [72] Inventor [21] Appl. No.

[22] Filed [73] Assignee [54] INTEGRAL PROCESSING TRAY AND LIQUID ABSTRACT: A combination processing tray and liquid conr use in photographic processing apparatus. The comon unit is formed with a wall portion of resilient material which can be deformed to reduce the container volume thereby forcing liquid from the container to the integral tray. As the container returns to its original form during each processing cycle, excess processing liquid is withdrawn into the container.

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PAIENTED'JUH 2 8 m1 JOHN E. MORSE mvrmom BY M M AT TORNE YS INTEGRAL PROCESSING TRAY AND LIQUID CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to apparatus for processing photographic materials and in particularly to an improved processing liquid container.

2. Description of the Prior Art Most of the liquids employed in the processing of photographic materials are subject to deterioration by air oxidation. Also, many of such liquids are unpleasant to handle, some being injurious to the clothing of an operator. It is therefore desirable that photographic processing liquids by exposed to the air as little as possible and that as little handling as possible be required in their use.

For these and other reasons, in the application of processing liquids to photographic materials, e.g., photographic print material or photographic film, it has become an increasingly desirable feature to supply small quantities of liquid at a time from a liquid reservoir to a processing station and to return the liquid to the reservoir after a processing cycle has been completed. Various apparatus for supplying such unit charges have been developed'such as, for example, the apparatus disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,273,485. However, such devices are complicated in nature and present the necessity of connecting various plumbing" between the supply reservoir and the processing tray.

Additionally, in photographic developing, there is often a buildup of sediment which collects at the bottom of the developing tray. In many of the prior art devices, even those using unit charges, this sediment is not entirely returned to the container. Therefore the processing tray must periodically be cleaned to return it to its original state.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is addressed to the problems described above and provides a single structure which combines the functions of a processing liquid container and a processing tray. Additionally, because of its unique construction the container of this invention is capable of cooperation with pressure applying means to supply liquid from its supply chamber portion into its tray portion in metered quantities.

' Further, the container is adapted for cooperation so that after each processing cycle the processing liquid can be immediately returned to the supply chamber so that the charge of liquid is remixed and air deterioration is minimized.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved processing liquid container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a processing liquid container having means thereon for receiving processing liquid in a disposition for the processing operation.

Yet another object is to provide an improved processing liquid container which minimizes the likelihood of spillage and obviates the necessity for cleaning of residue.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a readily fabricated and inexpensive container which provides a storage compartment for processing liquids and a processing tray in which the photographic material can be treated by that liquid.

Exemplary structure of the present invention, in general, comprises a container, one outer surface of which is depressed and rounded in the form of a tray to receive material to be processed and processing liquids. Below this surface the container defines a reservoir for the processing liquid to be supplied to the tray portion. At the bottom of the tray portion, communicating with the supply reservoir, is a smail hole for transfer of the liquid. A dip tube is connected to this communicating opening and extends into the reservoir. A plug can be placed in this hole to retain the processing liquid in the reservoir after filling and until the container is ready for use in a processing apparatus.

The container is fonned in a manner such that at least one of the walls is resilient and can be flexed. Thus, a predetermined flexure, for example, of a resilient wall opposite the tray portion will force a metered amount of liquid through the communicating opening and into the tray portion, where the liquid is disposed for contact with the material to be processed. When the wall is released, it returns to its original shape and a suction is created which draws the developing solution back into the container.

Any of the processing liquid which is used during processing is replaced in the storage compartment by a quantity of air so that the quantity of liquid forced into the processing tray portion for a given flexure is substantially constant, regardless of the volume of processing liquid in the compartment.

With the structure of the present invention, the particular developing liquid can be placed in the container and the container closed prior to shipment. The user need merely remove the plug and place the combination storage reservoirprocessing tray in its proper location in a processing apparatus for use.

When the developing solution has become exhausted the entire container can be removed and disposed of, thereby obviating the necessity to clean residue from the processing tray.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention wherein like characters denote like parts and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the combined liquid storage compartment-developing tray of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the combination container along the line 2-2 of FIG 1, showing the liquid retaining plug in place;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the combination container shown in a processing apparatus; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the bottom wall of the combination unit flexed to force fluid from the storage compartment into the processing tray.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The subsequent description of the present invention is made with respect to a preferred embodiment which is adapted for use in processing photographic print material, e.g., in a copy machine or a microfilm reader-printer. However, it will be appreciated that the configuration of the container can be modified to provide equal advantages in processing strip film, film chips or other types of photographic materials. Further, this device may find application in liquid development of latent electrophotographic images. It is also pointed out that the present container invention can also be used with advantage in treating nonphotographic materials with liquids which present problems in handling and use similar to photographic processing liquids.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings, a combination liquid storage container and processing tray structure 1 having a processingtray portion 2, ends 3 and 4 and sides 5 and 6 can be seen. It also can be seen that the processing tray portion 2 is formed of a generally semicylindrical portion 10 and an upper, flat, sloping portion 11. At the lowermost portion of the semicylindrical part 10 is an opening 12 in which is fitted a dip tube 13. This dip tube 13 may be internally threaded so as to accommodate a plug 14, or a plug may be pressed into the top of the tube to retain liquid within storage compartment 15 defined by sides 5 and 6, processing portion 2, the lower portion of ends 3 and 4, and bottom wall 16.

In FIG. 2 the container 1 is shown as mounted in guides 17 and 18 which support it in a position with processing tray part 2 at the top. It can also be seen that when the container is supported in guides 17 and 18, the bottom wall 16 is accessible for application of a flexing force. These rigid guides 17 and 18 can be provided in the similar form along the feed path of processing apparatus for holding the container 1, and an access opening can be provided in such apparatus to allow the container to be slid in and out of guide 17 and 18.

In FIG. 3, the container 1 is shown with portions of a cooperating processing apparatus. Such an apparatus can include a top guide 20 which, along with the semicylindrical portion of processing tray portion 2 defines a path for the material to be processed. Squeegee rollers 21, 22 are provided to remove excess processing liquid from the photographic material after processing. The processing apparatus is also provided with a plunger member 23 which, in its nonprocessing position shown in FIG. 3, is proximate, but not flexing, the bottom wall 16. The plunger member 23 is attached to a rod 24 which is keyed (by any suitable means not shown) to eccentric 25. Eccentric 25 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 26, which is, in turn, connected by suitable means (not shown) to other machinery in the processing apparatus so that plunger member 23 can be moved cyclically to the processing position shown in FIG. 4.

In the processing position of plunger 23, the resilient bottom wall 16 of the liquid storage chamber is flexed thereby decreasing the volume of the storage chamber 15 so that liquid is force upwardly through the dip tube 13 and into the processing tray portion 2. A sheet of photographic material 31 which is to be processed is fed along a path 30 between the portion 10 of tray 2 and the upper guide in order to contact the processing solution.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, after this material 31 has passed through path-30, and thus contacted the processing solution, it is passed between squeegee rollers 21, 22 so that excess processing solution is removed from the material. This excess processing solution falls upon flat, sloped wall 11 and is thus returned along path 30 and into communication with opening 12. It will be appreciated that the lower portions of the tray can be sloped towards the opening 12 to further facilitate liquid return to the reservoir.

After passage of the photographic material, continued rotation of shaft 26 and eccentric causes plunger member 23 to return to the nonprocessing position shown in FIG. 3.

7 Combination container units of the type described can be formed of a variety of materials; however, it is necessary that at least some wall portion defining the reservoir be capable of fiexure to allow compression of the reservoir volume. Thus, the entire structure can be made by blow-molding a material such as medium or low density polyethylene, or the structure can be injection molded. Further, the structure can be formed of individual prices joined as by heat sealing, ultrasonic sealing, solvent welding, etc. Filling can be accomplished through the opening 12 and dip tube 13. Alternatively a second opening can be provided for filling the chamber 15 and sealed after filling.

In operation, the plug 14 is removed from the filled combination container unit 1; and the unit is placed in the film processing apparatus, as by sliding it into the rigid bracket members 17 and 18. This will place the flexible bottom wall 16 in proximity to plunger member 23 as shown in FIG. 3. When it is desired to commence a processing operation, the plunger member 23 is actuated through rotation of shaft 26 and concentric 25 to flex the bottom wall 16. Thus a metered amount of the developing liquid is forced into the space between semicylindrical portion 10 of processing part 2 and upper guide member 20. The photographic material to be processed then is passed through path and squeegee rollers 21, 22 so that the material is treated by the liquid, with the excess liquid flowing down sloped wall 11 toward opening 12. After the photographic material has passed completely through the path 30, rotation of the shaft 26 causes eccentric 25 to return to its nonprocessing position. The wall 16 then returns to its unflexed state; and a lower pressure is created within chamber 15, allowing the processing fluid within the processing tray 2 to be withdrawn into container 15 through opening 12 and dip tube 13.

Because of the constant stroke of plunger member 23, any processing solution which is lost by print carry-out or by evaporation will be replaced by air on retraction of plunger member 23. Therefore, the constant stroke will cause generally the same metered amount of liquid to be forced through the opening 12 into the path 30 on the next stroke of plunger member 23. This alternate pumping and return of liquid can be continued until the volume of liquid drops below dip tube 13, or until the chemical concentration of the processing liquid has fallen below the desired levels. It will of course be appreciated that the length of the dip tube 13 can be constructed as to terminate liquid supply generally when the desired concentration of the liquid is expended.

When it is desired to replace the container, the combination unit I is withdrawn from the machine, the plug 14 placed back in opening 12 to prevent spillage, and the entire unit discarded.

It will be appreciated that a processing apparatus can employ a series of the above-described combination container 4 units to carry out the various steps in a photographic processing procedure.

Therefore it can be seen that the combination container unit described provides a convenient receptacle which both stores liquid in a protected location and, upon application of pressure, presents the liquid in a disposition for facile use.

Further, the disclosed unit obviates the problem of plate out and precipitation of the chemicals in the liquid and/or from the processed materials in that the buildup in the tray and reservoir is disposed of with a container replacement. Additionally, in the disclosed container, no pumps, hoses, valves, or other members are required to connect the liquid supply to its use station.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinabove and as defined in the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. A replaceable liquid storage chamber-processing tray combination for use in the processing of photographic materials, comprising:

a storage chamber having a volume for containing a processing liquid defined by spaced sidewalls interconnected by a top wall and a resilient bottom wall which is deflectable to decrease said volume;

a processing tray formed in said top wall and constructed to contain a liquid charge and receive material to be processed;

means defining an opening in the portion of said top wall which forms the bottom of said processing tray; and means defining a liquid passage within said storage chamber in communication with said opening to provide flow of the processing liquid from said storage chamber into said processing tray upon deflection of said resilient bottom wall to decrease said volume and to provide flow of the processing liquid from said processing tray into said storage chamber when said resilient bottom wall is not flexed.

2. A disposable combination container unit variable storing developing liquid and for receiving a latent image bearing sheet and for developing the image thereon, said unit comprising:

a storage chamber having a variable volume and including:

interconnected side and bottom walls;

a rigid top member connected to said sidewalls and having an outer surface tray configuration for containing developing liquid and for receiving the sheet for processing the latent image thereon, one of said walls being resilient and deflectable to vary the volume of said chamber;

means defining an opening in said tray for flow of developing liquid to said top member from said storage chamber and from said top member to said storage chamber; and

crease said volume.

3. A disposable combination container as claimed in claim 2 wherein:

said sidewalls are rigid and said bottom wall is resilient.

2 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3537 429 Dated June 28 1971 Inventor(s) John E. Morse It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4, line 60, delete "variable" and insert "for".

Signed and sealed this 25th day of January 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

